Chapter 33-
(Catarina's POV)
Debbie and police chief Alice show up. They say Evanna gave them a map to get here. The police chief has Shan's diary and my tiara. They were in evidence. "The tiara seemed like it might be important," she tells me.
I nod. "Thank you, it is."
She says the other cops read Shan's diary but dismissed it as fictional nonsense.
They inform us that they want to go to vampire mountain.
Then Mr. Tiny arrives. He announces that Harkat has to go with him now to find out his true identity. "I could go with you," Shan offers.
"No," Harkat refuses.
"Actually, I think young Shan should accompany you. Your chances of survival are fair if he does. Alone it's practically certain you'll fail," Mr. Tiny responds.
"Darren's not coming. He has problems of his own...with the vampaneze. This is my quest, not his," Harkat argues.
"Harkat, maybe we should-" Shan starts to suggest.
"No, your loyalty is with the vampires. I'll be okay on my own."
"No you won't," I shake my head. "I'm going with you. Shan can go with the others."
"Catarina, you can't. It's too...dangerous. It's not your job. This is my quest."
"Life is dangerous but it does not scare me. This is your quest but I am your friend so I shall accompany you and help you however I can."
"I don't think so. You should go with Darren. The vampires-"
"I am going with you. Shan can deal with the vampires without me. You need my help on this quest. I cannot let you go alone. You are my closest friend and I will not take no for an answer."
(Shan's POV)
After the arguing with Harkat she looks into his eyes. He looks back at her and neither one of them even blink. They just stare at each other, not needing words to express their thoughts and feelings. It's kind of extraordinary and very amusing to watch. Finally he nods. "Okay."
Mr. Tiny smiles, obviously pleased.
(Shan)
Just as the police chief and Debbie are getting ready to go to vampire mountain the chief tells Shan to go with Harkat. "Your place is with him and Catarina, not us."
"No!" Debbie wails.
"I must. Alice is right. I have to help Harkat. And...I can't leave Catarina. I promised her I wouldn't."
"Okay, if that's the way you want it," she sniffles, trying to stop her tears.
When he goes to join his friends Harkat is mad but Mr. Tiny just says "Ah, master Shan! I thought you might turn up."
The trio goes through a portal into a strange desert land.
(Catarina's POV)
Two weeks go by and it's treacherous. No human would be able to survive in these harsh conditions. There is dust in the air, the heat is awful, and water is scarce. The only food we get to eat is lizards which doesn't taste too good. I am thirsty for blood but there is none.
Mr. Tiny had pointed us in the right direction and told us to find the lake of souls and kill a panther to find Harkat's true identity. Then he left.
Shan has no shoes on but his feet have gotten tougher and hardened, adapting. We got sunburned the first few days. On Shan it turned into a nice dark tan.
(Shan's POV)
Catarina had horrible sunburn on her pale skin but it didn't slow her down. She's tough and strong. After that it turned into a very light tan. Harkat finds it amusing that my sunburn turned into a dark tan on me but such a light one on her.
(Catarina's POV)
A week later we are in a jungle. There's a lot of vines and strange trees and some odd yellow monkeys. I have daggers made of stone. Shan and Harkat have weapons made of animal bones. Harkat no longer has nightmares. The nightmares I have are mostly about Steve since I came to terms with the loss of Mr. Crepsley and now that I have Shan back. They are rare though. When we do sleep, Harkat stays close to us and I rest my head on Shan's chest.
We discuss strategy on how to kill the panther. I killed a tiger in my trials but I barely escaped alive. This will not be easy.
We dig a big pit and Harkat fills it with stakes. Shan and I stay away while he does this due to our painful memories of a certain other pit with stakes and Mr. Crepsley. I hug Shan tightly. He hugs me too and we don't let go of each other until the pit is done. Harkat covers it as a trap.
When the panther attacks Harkat throws mud in it's eyes. It tries to attack Shan but he dives out of the way, throwing cacti at it. The animal is now angry and it lunges at Harkat who ends up trapped beneath it. Shan and I immediately go to rescue him but he shouts "Get back!"
Then he grabs the panther and throws himself and it into the pit. I gasp in horror and Shan yells "No!" We run over to the edge and look down. Harkat luckily landed on top of the panther which is dead but some of the stakes did gash him and his upper left arm is pinned to one.
"Help me up!" he demands.
"Hang on," Shan goes to find a rope. Before anyone can realize what I am doing or can stop me I jump into the pit. I land gracefully, lightly, and agily on the panther.
"Stupid!" Harkat scolds me.
"Shut up and hold still," I command before freeing his arm. He winces. Shan throws a vine down. I push Harkat forward. "You go first."
"No you-"
"I'll be here to catch you if you fall. You're injured."
He goes first and almost slips. Shan drops the vine, dives forward on his belly and grabs Harkat's robe, pulling him up. They collapse and pant together on the ground. There was a very good chance that if Harkat fell he could have knocked me over and we would have both fallen onto the spikes. He is safe now though. "Shan! Help me out!" I yell.
He reaches for me and I grab his hands. He hoists me to the ground and we clean Harkat's wounds with water. Shan tears his sweater into strips to bandage Harkat. As for the wounds on his face he says "Let them heal as they like. I can't get any uglier...than I already am."
"That's true," Shan laughs. Harkat hits him playfully.
"You're not ugly," I tell him,
"Catarina," Harkat says affectionately and smiles. Sometimes Harkat and I don't need a lot of words to communicate and know what each other means.
"You wouldn't know ugly if it slapped you in the face," Shan informs me.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I challenge.
"It means you never see outward appearances, you're so nonjudgmental."
"And that's bad?"
"No," he shakes his head. "You look so beautiful compared to me though."
"You're very handsome. I'm not beautiful."
He rolls his eyes.
We examine the panther after hauling it out of the pit and find on the stomach is a map and a riddle. 'Go to the home of the world's largest toad. Grab the gelatinous globe.'
Shan says "This is Mr. Tiny we're dealing with. He makes jokes out of everything. I think our best bet is to follow the map and worry about the rest later." He cuts the map out.
"Do you recall Mr. Tiny saying he'd...thrown in a clue to my identity? There...has to be something more," Harkat says before examining the panther more. He discovers that the teeth have letters on them so he pulls them out. The only thing we can spell with them is Harkat Mulds. He puts them in his robe pocket and we move on.
Three weeks later...
We arrive at a swamp marked by a circle on the map. "I don't like the looks of this," Shan mumbles.
"Alligators," I point out.
"We have to go in to find...the frog," Harkat informs us. Shan rolls up his jeans and I pull my leggings up above my knees. I place my shoes in the belt of my tunic and wade into the water. When we reach an island we sleep. Shan holds me close under a deerskin blanket. Harkat covers up with the map.
The next day as the sun sets we spot the toad. It's huge with a giant tongue and it's oozing pus. Harkat suggests that two people stay and throw water rats at the alligators to keep them away while one of us goes to get the globes hopefully sneakily so the frog doesn't see. He also says me and Shan are faster than him so it should be one of us. I know Shan is expecting me to volunteer but instead I say "I'm not going near that disgusting thing. You go."
"Thanks a lot," he frowns but goes anyway. When Harkat and I run out of water rats to throw the alligators go towards Shan.
Suddenly Evanna shows up and blinds the animals with a spell. We all hurry to land together. Shan has the globes with him. Evanna has a camp set up on a small isle. There are fresh clothes waiting for us, blue robes for Harkat, dark brown pants and a shirt for Shan, and a dark red tunic with leggings for me. "Get out of those wet rags, get dry, and get dressed," Evanna orders while starting a fire.
"Umm...this might sound like a stupid question but have you been expecting us?" Shan asks.
"Of course, I've been here for the past week," she responds. "Eat some stew and change clothes, then I will answer questions."
I sit with Shan, our backs to Harkat as he dresses. When he sits down and starts to help with the stew, Shan and I go change together. I sit down and peel my leggings off of me as Shan pulls on his dry pair of pants. I pull on my dry leggings then ask Shan to help me with my tunic. He pulls it off me and blushes slightly. I raise an eyebrow, smiling amusedly. We are both shirtless though I have a bra on. "It's nothing you haven't seen before," I tell him.
"I love you," he whispers.
"I love you too," we kiss then I pull on my tunic and fasten my belt around it to hold my daggers safely hidden and my shoes on the outside if need be but for now they are on my feet. I sit next to Shan, my arm linked with his. Sometimes I kiss his cheek or he kisses mine. When no one is looking we kiss on the lips. After we eat Shan inquires Evanna as to what she is doing here.
"I am here to act as a guide on the next part of your quest," she informs us.
"Yes!" Shan exclaims happily.
The witch smiles. "Sleep now. I will return in the morning." She disappears. Harkat lies down on one side of the fire, Shan and I on the other. The blanket is placed over us. He pulls it over my head which makes me giggle then he presses his lips to mine. I am laying ontop of him, every part of our bodies touching and my weight on him. We make out under the protection of our blanket before finally I pull away and move the blanket down. I cuddle into his arms and we sleep.
Evanna takes onto a dry barren land. For the next few days we walk together.
(Shan's POV)
I talk to Evanna a lot about Mr. Crepsley. It makes Catarina...sad. She walks silently with her head down and a frown on her face. I feel bad about upsetting her but I still want to talk about Mr. Crepsley. One night, after a long day of telling stories and exchanging memories about him, I hear Catarina crying quietly. I crawl over to where she is sitting alone and I hug her tightly. "It's alright Catarina, don't cry."
"I'm sorry," she mutters, drying her face on her hands.
"Don't be," I kiss her forehead.
When Evanna sings during the day it puts Cat in a noticeably better mood. Harkat can breathe the air here which means he no longer has to use his masks. One night while Catarina is asleep Evanna says to me "She doesn't like me."
I shake my head. "She doesn't mind you but she's reluctant to trust anyone after...everything."
"I understand."
(Catarina's POV)
Eleven days after the frog we arrive at a lake with no name. "This is where I will leave you," Evanna announces. "Would you like help building a raft?"
We all help and when it is complete she says to us "To fish on the lake of souls you must borrow a net that has been used to tawl for the dead. And to access the lake you'll need the holy liquid from the temple of the grotesque. Sorry I can't tell you more. Luck to you all."
We set sail on our raft in the lake. A few days go by and each one are boring. There is nothing to do on the raft. Shan and I kiss sometimes but not very much because we don't want to make Harkat uncomfortable. He notices that one of the teeth has a hole in it that none of the others do. It's the K letter but we don't know why.
On the fifth day we see land a couple miles away. But then, incredibly, a dragon swoops down and we duck. It barely misses us. The next time though it knocks us into the water, shattering the raft. It breathes fire so we dive down as far as we can. We didn't expect it to dive in after us and grab us in it's claws. It doesn't have a good grip on me and Harkat though, because we are both in the same claw. Shan tells us to go so we wiggle free and drop into the ocean.
Shan drops soon after but is unconscious. He doesn't wake up for days. A used to be pirate named Spits Abrams has a hut and welcomes us in. Shan is placed in a hammock and I refuse to leave his side, keeping one of my daggers drawn. The other one plunged into the ocean. Amazingly both of my shoes stayed on my feet. Harkat talks to Spits and tells me he's okay but I don't trust anyone. When spits calls Shan my friend I correct him with my fiancé. Spits is amused by the fact that I am a girl but when he gets too close to me I point my dagger at him and he backs off.
When Shan finally wakes up we go outside and eat fish. Spits tells Shan about himself. He shipwrecked here and Mr. Tiny told him three people would arrive and makes his dreams come true, which Spits says is getting off the island. He can't by himself because there are several dragons. He also happens to have a net like the one Evanna mentioned.
When he falls asleep Harkat says Spits thinks he's a demon and he hates vampires. He vowed to drive a stake through the heart of the first one he sees. Shan and I are weak from no blood so we drink Spits blood even though it is laced with alcohol.
We all travel together to the mountains but are suspicious of the pirate. We take turns sleeping to keep an eye on him. It's cold and it rains a lot. I stay huddled against Shan even as we walk. One day we use a knife and cut our hair. Mine falls just above my shoulders now. Sometimes I tie it back with my red ribbon. When I don't the ribbon is around my wrist.
We go through a small forest and end up on a flat land that's empty except for tall grass. In the distance is a white building that we know has to be the temple of the grotesque. When we get there we hide and watch. A tribe of dark skinned humans chant. The grotesque emerges and we see it's a giant caterpillar with and ugly human like face. It sweats and the smell makes Shan and I both cover our nose and mouths with our hands. I gag.
The tribe puts one boy forward and the grotesque, which is truly grotesque, eats the boy who was some kind of offering to it. Then the humans and the grotesque go inside. I get up and turn away from the temple, gagging and dry heaving on my hands and knees. Shan walks over and rubs my back slowly, comfortingly. "It's okay Catarina. Are you alright?"
I sit up and nod. "Yeah."
Harkat says we'll have to go in at night when they are asleep then sneak in to get the liquid Evanna told us about. Spits decides to stay behind because it's too dangerous. We go in.